Re: To Believe or Not To Believe
How do definitions become 'common usage'??
Generally when many people start using a word. A lot of times, however, someone (like the government, the press or the movie industry) redefines a word into something other than what it originally meant and people start using the wrong meaning as if it were correct. An example of this is 'vegetable', and referring to a tomato as a 'vegetable' (it isn't, it's a fruit.). This redefinition of a tomato as a vegetable was done for tax reasons in the United States. The rest of the world followed because of the strength and influence of the U.S.economy. Essentially, most of the world uses 'vegetable' to include tomatoes, even though it's wrong.
Sometimes a word or phrase comes along with no meaning at all, such as 'climate change', or 'assault weapon'. These buzzwords carry no meaning at all, yet they are what you might describe as 'common usage'. Popular buzzwords that appear on forums like this are 'reality', 'fact', or even 'logic'. They are often used as meaningless buzzwords, rather than the meaning they actually have.
Does it have anything to do with people defining words?
Yes. Words are define using philosophy, using mathematics, using logic, or just making up a word to describe a technical term, such as 'watt' or 'volt' (which is really just the name of people contributing or creating the word!). Another example is 'laser', which is actually an acronym, but is also not a commonly used word. Like usual, the movie industry has completely redefined what 'laser' means, that has nothing to do with what an actual laser is.
Does it have anything to do with people doing so through use of philosophy?
Yes. Many words are defined through philosophy, such as 'science', 'religion', 'mathematics', and 'logic'.
How do definitions become 'specialized technical usage'?
By simply creating them. Examples of this are 'watt', 'volt', 'ampere', 'heat', 'thermal', 'electromagnetic', 'aileron', 'debugging', etc.
Does it have anything to do with people defining words? Does it have anything to do with people doing so through use of philosophy?
The study of how words are defined and where they come from is a fascinating hobby. It is called 'etymology'...a technical word itself. The history of a word can reveal a lot about it, just as the history of a theory of science can reveal a lot about it. These snippets of history are what make history much more interesting than memorizing when some relatively inconsequential battle took place.
It's funny how history classes are taught. They really ignore some very important parts of history to concentrate on many inconsequential details. This is a reason for this. Most historians are not well versed in science or even religion as a subject.